Urban News

Since the last week of August, dengue cases are on the rise. On September 13, 33 cases were reported in the state, which rose to 218 in the first week of October — 119 cases from Lucknow alone. This is the highest figure in the last three years. In 2007, there were 132 cases, 2008 saw only 51 and

2009 ¿ 168 cases. Yet, no steps were taken to control the breeding sites of dengue mosquitoes in Lucknow. Asked why steps are taken so late, the Director General, Health and Family Welfare, Dr SP Ram, blamed the LMC. “The municipal corporation should have taken care of the sanitation, fogging and insecticide spraying,” said Ram. “We stepped in when the LMC failed to do so.”

The LMC claims it is not their duty alone to control the spread of dengue mosquitoes. “Our job is to conduct fogging and clean garbage and drains, which we have been doing,” said PK Srivastava, Additional Municipal Commissioner, LMC. “Dengue mosquitoes are born in clean water and not in drains, fogging has no effect on them.” 

The supply of insecticides are a problem area. Till two years ago, these were procured and supplied by the Centre. But with the initiation of the National Rural Health Mission, the system has changed. Now in rural areas, the Village Health and Sanitation Society under NRHM gets funds to buy insecticides, said Ram. In urban areas, it is the municipal corporation which has the responsibility. But ever since the Central supply has stopped, neither LMC nor the health department has purchased insecticides. This time, the insecticides are to be procured by the CMO at the local level.

“Yesterday, I ordered the Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow, to procure insecticides and begin spraying,” said Ram. Around 80 workers of health department will use the spraying machines to take care of the city’s sanitation work. The CMO, meanwhile, maintains that spraying was done in Lucknow, though not at a large scale owing to budget constraints. “It is basically for people to keep their surroundings clean and not allow water stagnation,” said AK Shukla, CMO. Larvicides and insecticides are used to kill Aedes mosquitoes, the carriers of dengue virus.

Explaining why the civic body has not been using these insecticides, Srivastava said, “Some years ago, the LMC had undertaken larvicide spray in drains and ponds on large scale, but fish started dying.” He maintained that from Sunday, work has begun on a war footing. “We have our plans ready and will be working with the health department to prevent further spread of dengue.”

Dhanalakshmi, the house owner, said that she had rented the ground floor of her house to a branch of the famous hotel - Indian Coffee House (ICH), following the closure of their place on Nehru Street for renovation. Her main motivation was that the workers of ICH, a government co-operative society, would stand to lose their jobs if the hotel closed down.  

Though the initial agreement had been one for 11 months starting September 11, 2008, the hotel continues to function there. This even after the house owner requested them to vacate, failing which a legal notice was issued.

“Several notices had been sent by the PWD and the municipality but to no avail. Once, the PWD even blocked the drainage by force after they did not heed to a couple of warning notices issued by them. But the hotel being a government organisation had pulled some strings in the government and the block was immediately removed,” said Rajendra Gupta, a resident of that place.

Following the residents’ numerous complaints, in one of the several letters dated April 1, 2009, the Puducherry municipality had issued a notice to the hotel manager stating that the hotel’s drainage line was connected to the road side ‘L’ drain, which was unhygienic and posed health hazards to the residents nearby and hence the drainage line should be connected immediately to the underground drainage system to avoid further discharge of waste water into the open drain. The letter added that action would  be taken against the hotel as per the Municipal Act if the hotel authorities did not heed this warning.”

It has been more than a year now and no action has been in sight. Not only this, functioning from a residence, the hotel did not follow any fire safety norms or other such norms that are expected to be followed in a commercial unit.

The municipal councillor in that area, R Kumaran, said, “Several times I have asked the hotel manager to see to these problems and have even personally filed a complaint with the Puducherry municipality, dating back to April, 2009. But, this being a part of the co-operative society, no strict action was enforced. Hence, we were left with the only option to arrange for workers to clean the drainage time and again.” Not only Chetty Street residents, but even a nearby school, the Societe Progressiste Government-Aided High School, is up in arms as its students who normally have their food outside on the open verandah are forced to put up with the nauseating smell emanating from the drains. The school correspondent tried all he could through the education department to stop the hotel but in vain.

The hotel management also seems to have a legitimate reason for sticking on, saying that the government had been delaying the renovation process for the original building forcing them to stay here. “Laying out a drainage pipe into the underground drainage system means a cost of more than Rs 25,000 and we do not have  funds for the same. Also, such tasks should be taken care of by the house owner and not us,” argued a higher official from ICH.Not the municipality, not the PWD, not the education department, not the Chetty Street residents seem to be able to shut down the hotel. As for the owner Dhanalaksmi, it seems that she has unwittingly created a monster.